Losing 30 Minutes of Sleep Can Increase Risk of Obesity, Diabetes

the Neurology Advisor take:

Losing as little as 30 minutes of sleep may be associated with a significantly increased risk of obesity and insulin resistance, according to a study presented at ENDO 2015 in San Diego, Calif.

Researchers from the Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha, Qatar found that of patients recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, those who had weekday sleep debt were 72% more likely to be obese compared to those with no sleep debt.

The study included 522 patients and asked them to keep a sleep diary in order to calculate their weekday sleep debt. At the six-month follow-up, there was a significant association between sleep debt and obesity and insulin resistance, and at the 12-month follow-up, researchers found that for every 30 minutes of weekday sleep debt, the risk of obesity increased by 17% and the risk of insulin resistance increased by 39%.

"Sleep loss is widespread in modern society, but only in the last decade have we realized its metabolic consequences. Our findings suggest that avoiding sleep debt could have positive benefits for waistlines and metabolism and that incorporating sleep into lifestyle interventions for weight loss and diabetes might improve their success,” said study author Shahrad Taheri.

The findings coincide with several other study results released in the last year or so. The researchers suggested that future interventions to combat metabolic diseases should consider sleep health and incorporate sleep education as a component in future trials that study metabolic control.

Losing 30 Minutes of Sleep Can Increase Risk of Obesity, Diabetes

The findings of new research presented at ENDO 2015, the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego, CA, suggest that losing just half an hour of sleep can have long-term consequences for body weight and metabolism.

For the study, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha, Qatar, recruited 522 patients who had been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

At the start of the study, the participants' height, weight and waist circumference were measured and samples of their blood were analyzed for insulin sensitivity.